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You are here: Home / Archives for debate

debate

Does Eternal Subordination Entail a Denial of Homoousion?

October 9, 2008 by Phil Gons

Shield of the TrinityIn tonight’s debate, McCall and Yandell tried to make the case that the eternal subordination of the Son to the Father entails a denial of homoousion.

The Argument

Here’s their argument:

  1. If the Son is eternally subordinate to the Father in all possible worlds, then the Son is necessarily subordinate to the Father.
  2. If the Son is necessarily subordinate to the Father, then the Son is essentially subordinate to the Father.
  3. Thus, the Son, as essentially subordinate to the Father, is of a different essence or nature than the Father, which entails a denial of homoousion.

[Read more…] about Does Eternal Subordination Entail a Denial of Homoousion?

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Bruce Ware, debate, homoousion, Keith Yandell, Kevin Giles, Tom McCall, Trinity, Wayne Grudem

Trinity Debate—Live

October 9, 2008 by Phil Gons

I mentioned the debate between Ware–Grudem and McCall–Yandell a while back. The subject of the debate is “Do relations of authority and submission exist eternally among the Persons of the Godhead?” I’m currently watching the debate live right now. You can tune in as well.

I don’t know if I’ll liveblog. We’ll see. But I probably will write a post later analyzing the debate.

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: Bruce Ware, debate, Keith Yandell, Tom McCall, Trinity, Wayne Grudem

Wallace vs. Ehrman on the Textual Reliability of the NT

April 4, 2008 by Phil Gons

Today and tomorrow Daniel Wallace will be debating Bart Ehrman on “The Textual Reliability of the New Testament.” The debate is part of the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum, a ministry of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Here’s the announcement from DTS:

On April 4-5, 2008, Dr. Dan Wallace, professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas, will participate in a debate with Dr. Bart Ehrman, chair of the department of religious studies at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, over the textual reliability of the New Testament.

For more information, please visit www.greer-heard.com.

Wallace vs. Ehrman

Let’s pray that God’s truth would prevail.

Filed Under: Miscellany Tagged With: apologetics, Bart Ehrman, Daniel Wallace, debate

The Failed Strategy of “Trinity & Subordinationism”

October 17, 2007 by Phil Gons

trinity-and-subordinationism.jpgKevin Giles’s The Trinity & Subordinationism is easily one of the worst books I have ever read.1 I say that not because I disagree with the position he defends (i.e., the Son is not in any sense eternally subordinate to the Father); I’m still in the process of evaluating the evidence. Rather, I make that statement based primarily2 on what the book itself sets out to do.

Giles’s goal in T&S is to move beyond the exegetical impasse regarding eternal subordination in the Trinity by appealing to tradition.

Quoting biblical texts and giving one’s interpretation of them cannot resolve complex theological disputes. . . . I believe this approach [to “doing theology”] should . . . be abandoned today because it always leads to a “text-jam.” . . . What we have today is a bitter stalemate (3).

[Read more…] about The Failed Strategy of “Trinity & Subordinationism”

  1. I should clarify that I have read and am referring to only his section on the Trinity, which is its own distinct unit. [↩]
  2. I’ll probably follow up this post with the book’s other problems, such as (1) misunderstanding and misrepresenting complementarians, (2) selective reading of history, (3) eisegesis of historical texts, (4) category confusion, etc., etc. Here’s one example of misrepresentation to give you an idea of the way Giles interacts with complemenatarian Trinitarianism throughout the book: “Rather than working as one, the divine persons have been set in opposition—with the Father commanding and the Son obeying.” I wrote this in the margin, “Opposition?!!! What a massive misrepresentation!” I challenge Giles to show one complementarian who considers the Father and the Son to be in a relationship of opposition! [↩]

Filed Under: Books, Exegesis, Theology Tagged With: church history, debate, eternal subordination, interpretation, Kevin Giles, subordination, subordinationism, The Trinity and Subordinationism, Trinity

More Bahnsen Debates

August 9, 2007 by Phil Gons

Greg BahnsenNote: The site hosting the MP3 files below no longer has them up, but Archive.org has them cached. I’ve updated the links. Make sure to right-click and select “Save link as” to download them.

I recently stumbled across and listened to two other free Bahnsen (Wikipedia | Theopedia) debates:

  • Greg Bahnsen vs. Edward Tabash: Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3
  • Greg Bahnsen vs. George Smith: Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4 | Pt 5 | Pt 6 | Pt 7 | Pt 8 | Pt 9 | Pt 10 | Pt 11 | Pt 12

They aren’t quite as good as the debate against Gordon Stein (Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | transcript), but they are still worth listening to.

[Read more…] about More Bahnsen Debates

Filed Under: Audio, Reviews, Theology Tagged With: apologetics, atheism, debate, Edward Tabash, George Smith, Greg Bahnsen, MP3, WordPress

Hitchens–Wilson Debate

June 2, 2007 by Phil Gons

Hitchens & WilsonLast night I read the final installment in the six-part email debate that has been taking place over the last month on ChristianityToday.com between atheist Christopher Hitchens (website) and Christian theist Douglas Wilson (blog). I thoroughly enjoyed it and heartily recommend it. Wilson is a cogent thinker, effective debater, and engaging writer, and he did a phenomenal job of presuppositionally obliterating the notion of philosophically consistent atheistic morality.

[Read more…] about Hitchens–Wilson Debate

Filed Under: Theology Tagged With: apologetics, atheism, Christopher Hitchens, debate, Douglas Wilson, Gordon Stein, Greg Bahnsen, theism, WordPress

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